


Time and Distance (The Reunion Remix)

by glim



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Battlefield, Canon Era, Dreams, M/M, Magic, Protective Merlin, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-10 16:05:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11130135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glim/pseuds/glim
Summary: Arthur's eyes close. "I don't deserve your friendship.""It wasn't lost. You need me, Arthur and I need you, time and distance can't change that."





	Time and Distance (The Reunion Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LFB72](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LFB72/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Art: Reunion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9780773) by [LFB72](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LFB72/pseuds/LFB72). 



> LFB72, both your art and your writing are fantastic! I had such a lovely time exploring your Merlin fanworks. <3 'Reunion' is a wonderful piece and I hope you enjoy my reinterpretation of the art and fic! Thank you for sharing your works with us. 
> 
> Thanks to the mods for running this fest!

_i._

 

Merlin meets Arthur on the battlefield, his steps heavy and slow. The smoke parts before him, dust and ash fading into the air, and sudden sunlight catches the gold of Arthur's hair. 

He turns, sees Merlin, smiles. 

And that's when Merlin knows he's dreaming. He raises his hand and bends the sunlight so it illuminates the smoke and dust, lifts his palm to the sky and sees a halo of soft light settle around Arthur. 

If he's dreaming, he might as well try and conjure the best dream possible. 

In his dream, Arthur smiles at him as if time and distance have not come between them; Arthur smiles as if the best thing he knows in this world is Merlin and the magic inherent in his touch. 

He smiles as if he wants Merlin to come home, as if he misses Merlin. 

And that's when the dream falters; the sunlight fades from pale gold to a dull grey that blends almost seamlessly into the dust of the battlefield. 

Arthur fades, too, and slips away, silently, into the dust and dullness, until the gold of his hair and the crimson of his cloak are nothing more than a faint blur on the horizon. The field around Merlin grows quiet and still, and he drops his hand to his side. 

There's no battle, no golden prince, no roar of dragon fire in the sky above. There is only Merlin, exiled and longing for home, and before the sadness can pierce his heart, he forces himself to wake up. 

His dreams of Arthur are always like this: the smile, the sunlight on his hair, the sudden sadness that strikes too deep inside. 

He never dreams of Camelot, never dreams of his younger days spent with the prince, but only of their reunion. 

There is something, Merlin knows, in the providence of such dreams.

He will go home, one day. 

 

 _ii._

 

There are battles between battles. 

Merlin leaves Ealdor for Camelot, then Camelot for Ealdor, and leaves Ealdor again to join those who know magic the way he knows magic. Each time he leaves a place he had learned to call home there is a quiet struggle inside his chest, a longing to be free of the pain of leaving. 

Those who practice magic know him immediately as Emrys and accept him without question. There is no battle there; they accept him and welcome into their homes and lives. 

They do not know him as Merlin, however, and the desire to be known for who he is, for who he has made himself, and not some prophesied name is a slow, quiet battle that Merlin wages alone. 

Sometimes, when he stands at the edge of a battle-torn field, hoping for a glimpse of red and gold, he feels something in his chest, something warm and familiar touch his heart. He knows, in those moments, that Arthur will feel the same one day, too, and that Arthur will know him, know all of him, and embrace him. 

So, he hovers at the edge of too many battlefields, not only to see Arthur, but to save him, not just for Camelot, not just for the magic that permeates the world around them and that longs for the rise of Arthur's power, but for himself. 

Of all the things Merlin has wanted in this world, of all the things he has fought for, he cannot help but feel that after freedom, Arthur's friendship and love have been foremost in his heart. He saves Arthur for himself, saves Arthur's life, but truly saves Arthur for himself, keeps Arthur close to his heart until he can pull Arthur into his arms and hold him. 

 

 _iii._

 

Merlin meets Arthur on the battlefield; the smoke parts before him and the sunlight glances down from a dust-dulled sky. Behind him, the heave of dragon wings slows, then settles, and the air grows still once more. 

Merlin relishes the moment before Arthur turns to him; he can see the tension in Arthur's shoulders, the caution, then the easing of both when he turns and first catches sight of Merlin. 

The time and space that separated them was a battle that they fought, long and weary, but Merlin knows that it was one worth fighting. 

Arthur is at once the same and different; his smile is the same, the glint of the sunlight on his hair is the same, the smile that lights his eyes is the very same that Merlin's dreamed about for years. 

Yet, he can tell that he is not dreaming, for Arthur carries himself like a king, like a man who has seen the world around him reshape itself under his own command. 

When he can finally draw Arthur in close to him, hold him close and safe and secure, Merlin knows for certain that this is no dream. This moment is better than any dream he has ever had since he left Camelot. 

"There could never be such a great space," he murmurs, his face pressed into Arthur's shoulder, "or so many intervening years, that I could forget how much I need you, Arthur." 

Arthur's breath shudders once, a faint tremble, and he nods against Merlin. "Perhaps I've never stopped needing you. Perhaps I thought I didn't deserve--" 

"No," Merlin says. He draws back from Arthur, but takes a moment to remember the boy that he used to know, the prince he'd first met, and to remember the boy that he himself had been on the day he'd first met Arthur. "If nothing else, this is what we deserve." 

Arthur looks down at the hand that Merlin rests on his chest and nods before he covers Merlin's hand with his own. "There will be magic in Camelot again," he says, "but I cannot do it alone. Please come home." 

"There has always been magic in Camelot." Merlin presses his hand closer to Arthur's chest and feels the warmth bloom between them. 

When Arthur offers him the position of Court Sorcerer, Merlin feels the time and distance between them collapse.


End file.
